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Belated Congratulations too Poole we gave it our best shot at home and fell just short , regardless what people say or think Poole are the benchmark we all aspire to become.

I reckon that I was so lucky to watch and support Speedway during the 'sixties' and 'seventies'.. It was never perfect, but it was entertaining. The different competitions, Pairs, Four Team Tournaments, Internationals, Individual Meetings, (Proper) League Racing where the Team that won the League were actually allowed to win it (no 'Play Offs'). No Grand Prix either, just a proper Individual World Final that really meant something with loads of Qualifying Meetings. It was open to ALL riders, not just the selected few. There was even a chance for Second Division riders to win it. Compare that to what we have now. Plain League Racing, the odd Pairs Event, the very rare Individual Meeting and the odd GP. So little variation. No the wonder that people are voting with their feet. If I were able to attend, I am not sure that I would, Speedway has changed so much, and not for the better. Where are all the Characters these days?

Hopefully... "Anything" that delivers 21st Century marketing being that hope.... A great piece in the Speedway Star today from Tony Mcdonald covering how similar so many of todays issues are with the sport 40 years ago, and the way so much of what we have today is a legacy of failing to change when, often, the writing was clearly on the wall by carrying on doing the same thing each season... You have to wonder, looking at the crowds now, if we are now at "ground zero" and necessity will actually truly be the mother of invention, and those in charge actually start to work collectively realising that they are really "one entity" and only as strong as their weakest link... One team getting 5000+ for a play off final is all well and good, however, dozens and dozens of meetings around the county being ran in front of circa 500, or even less, each season far outweighs that one night when the sport looked "popular".... Dozens and dozens of meetings with 500 MORE in attendance each meeting, has to be the initial momentum building target...

Don't all team managers

Surely you've heard all about Fish-O-Mania, live on Sky Sports Action, with its £50k first prize? https://fishomania.net/news/bradley-lucas-crowned-2025-fishomania-champion-in-record-breaking-debut/ Anyway, you can catch the Premiership on BSN next season. First prize is £2.50 and a voucher for the track shop.

Quoted as it highlights the financial position of the sport Here's a stark comparison which shows the gulf with football 10 miles from Ipswich is Needham Market. They play in the Southern League - effectively the 7th tier in the English game Yesterday they opened a new stand which cost £358,000 to build funded primarily by grants provided by the Premier League (£150k) and Southern League (£100k) and other agencies including £10k from local councils The stand apparently holds under 300 fans but would accommodate most of the average attendance. The game last night attracted their record attendance at 1105

Apparently, Andy Lee passed away on Monday, the father of Michael Lee. Andy was a very accomplished scrambles/moto x man, but was very instrumental in nurturing Michael's success on speedway and long track. He did a lot for the development of moto cross and used to run his own practice track in Cambridgeshire. RIP Andy. Condolences to family and friends.

A Paul Mulally appears to have had one job in football (after leaving the police) - Head of Football Operations at Portsmouth...with Harry Redknapp. There's a Miriam Bentley listed as working at Specialist Risk Group, who appear to be growing quite rapidly, including branching out into sports - and motorsports specifically. They are also listed as a 'partner' of Team GB. Finally, there's a Jason Holmes who's also involved in the insurance sector and covers "extreme sports" - but he's in Australia.

Great total raised once again for a great cause

Really? And don't they pay handsome bonuses for certain wins?

Result of a stroke according to Michael. It should also be remembered that Andy had a very successful motor cycle dealership in Cambridge too. He was a top bloke, always time for a chat.... RIP Andy An interesting article on Andy : https://www.motoheadmag.com/andy-lee-godspeed/

I am not a Poole fan but I am fed up of the jealousy on here. Poole look after riders well, but they do not pay /package close to Glasgow, Edinburgh, Plymouth. They offer more matches, a winning mentality and pay very quickly. Matt works on his team well in advance of others and he has no shortage of riders wanting to ride there, equally they have riders who know they can earn more per point elsewhere.

I’m riding something better than a Wessie now, I’m riding a 1952 jap 4B, I will be having a blast up in those hills soon

https://www.swindon-needs-speedway.com/abbey-stadium-planning-applications

We are sooo good he said it twice 😆😆😄

Seriously though if the Hearns did want to get involved in Speedway (which I'm pretty sure they don't) then the SGP series would probably be the way to go. It has a proven track record by the previous promoters to WBD staging events in big stadia at destination cities attracting big crowds and you could argue was on the cusp of going mainstream at that time, so it's been proven that it can be done and an audience is out there, the series is just missing the characters for the public to get involved with, the razzamataz, the hype etc.

Do they? If so, a great idea... Reward success rather than give out top money guarantees regardless of performance...

2 leagues for 2026 with the Premeirship Wednesday & Thursdays, the main reasons cut down on traveling & cost. Championship Friday & Saturdays, the main reason allow riders to work alongside their speedway commitments. Tighter rules to stop riders missing their UK fixtures and less double up/down. Any third division on Sundays. Fact is real changes are required.

It won't be 36, that's just a stupid rumour started on here. Silly season has begun...

These championship team fans need to be careful what they wish for, saying their league is better than the prem yet if the prem didn’t pay the likes of Z.Cook, Lawson, Wright, King etc big money, thus helping them ride in the second tier, they wouldn’t have many good riders at all. Take out their riders who ride in the prem and it’s a pretty poor standard. Everyone can say Prem is better or Champ is better but the fact is Speedway needs to be better.

R87 is just a wind-up merchant looking for attention. Everything that he says is complete boll*cks and as someone quite rightly pointed out, he is a liar. The contradictions are laughable. Bizarre that he spends time on a forum about a sport that he continually derides and can’t be more negative about. Such odd behaviour.

Joe Screen has to get a mention, eh?

If you're referring to Glasgow, how do you know that they do? Are you in the know or just guessing?

Ricky ashworth

Good luck, your club deserves success through their hard work.

Let’s hope so then! And as above that phone is ringing with riders begging to join 😁

Its fair to say that many riders now want to join Workington as riders enjoy the track and this will show with the team that gets assembled for 2026. Could be an interesting few month for Comets fans.

Any of them would hardly be a throw out would they, team building is a numbers game isn’t it! Very limited No 1. options out there, a rider has to come from somewhere

I think Tom is nailed on to be back tbh. 50/50 on Danny and the club, I think he/they will either want him to race for Ipswich the rest of his career or he/they will see this season as mission complete and pursue a change of scenery for Danny and make space for the next generation of long term witches riders to remain. doyle 7.86 King 6.50 rew 6.19 ellis 5.92 tom 7.05 thompson 5.87 edwards/rushen RS 39.39 as much as I’d love to see Emil ride here for years to come if the team building regs are as per this season I can see this being our most likely team lineup. We’ve got to shed points and this keeps team continuity from our rider base from the past few seasons. if Emil were to come back emil 8.21 thompson 5.87 tom 7.05 ellis 5.92 Doyle 7.86 5.09 left edwards/rushen RS best options for me would be blodorn 4.87 or jeppesen 4.34 if jeppesen then one of Ellis or Thompson could be rew or king

And here's both the lads in full flow

He will be up there for sure if he keeps his head straight, if Poole end up landing him and Beau Bailey they will have two of the best up and coming talents available and both born racers as well. I watched the SGP 3 grand prix this year which featured them both and there were plenty of riders in that field that would be worth a punt in 1-3 years time if they could be tempted over.

Shame it's looking like 36.00 then. As usual the weaker teams hold all the cards,evn though such a low limit won't benefit them. They just think it will.

It’s hard to see potential buyers jumping in without knowledge of what’s going with Leagues etc..Probably all done and dusted behind the scenes.(BSPA are more secretive and closed shop than the Masonic Lodge)

So would I tbh, I just can't see Danny being let go though. Got to be a 40.00 Limit I would imagine otherwise a lot of riders on 6+ GSA's will be out of a Premiership place entirely.

It's a conspiracy theory, Bluey.

Can't disagree with that real shame he's had such bad luck with injuries recently as although he's no longer the force he was at the top table in the UK league in 2024 he was winning races with his eyes closed.

Wilbur Hancock has said on social media that it will be streamed on PPV - details to follow.

Recorded another podcast tonight should be out Friday,,listen to our points and views,agree ? Disagree?

When you are not a good gater you have to pass or you do not win races. When you gate like Lawson it is much easier and passing becomes less necessary. To become a top rider you need to gate well, it is partly why Harris struggled at gp level.

But that’s 6 of the 7 from last season that were woeful away from home and the one rider you left out in Zach Cook was awesome at home Brady and Dan are the best top 2 in the league Id definitely have Brennan over Lidsey With Blodorn he was awful last season maybe the SGP2 win will help him but he basically was the worst number 2 in the league All season your fans moaned about the 2 reserves and Norick and now you want all 3 back?

Think all speedway fans would love the sport to have a sustained massive injection of cash but it doesn't. The fact remains that currently only 5 teams (35riders) are possible participants in the Premiership in 2026. Currently there is no tv deal and with most of the likely candidates having been there and done that then I have my doubts whether a tv deal from a financial big player is at all likely . This obviously has financial implications for the budgets of the premiership clubs and the BSPL. Another question to be answered is with no tv money and only a possible 5 teams do all these teams even want this ? . No excitement and not much variability in 5 teams from where I'm sitting. The truth is the Premiership is not the promised land and most Championship supporters believe that is the better product. Also let's not forget Leicester only joined the Premiership in 2023 and Sheffield in 2021 neither of which have enjoyed financial happy times if rumours of the size of losses are to be believed.

If he's 'very pricey' he won't be southbound!!

Maybe even across Borders and No Max is not expensive he is fair in his requests for a GP rider who gives a lot to the team and is a great guy

No, more sharing out. Same riders, spread thought the league. Indeed, as a Bandit fan, you should be pleased, as it allows all the teams to work closer to a reasonable budget. If, in fact, this proposal is adopted!

No he isn’t, and yes it is. I’m sorry Bagpuss I’m not trying to be argumentative here for the sake of it, but of course it’s to do with Money! Chapman could have more money than Elon Musk, I never said Chapman wasn’t wealthy. But his personal wealth is completely irrelevant to the point I was making. Does Jason Doyle still live in Norfolk? The fact of the matter is that if Lynn offered a better deal to Doyle than Ipswich then Doyle would be riding for Kings Lynn. It’s quite clear that no matter how much money Keith Chapman has, it means very little if he isn’t prepared to compete for the top riders. That of course is his prerogative, he sets a budget to build a team every year and that budget doesn’t seem to stretch to paying for a Doyle/Bewley/Emil etc. Now that IS all financially relative isn’t it? We’re in danger of veering away from my original point here which wasn’t to do with Keith Chapman’s personal wealth. If the top three are going to be forced in to not re-signing one of their heatleaders to allow Lynn and others the opportunity to sign them, are those clubs going to offer the top money that these riders will still demand? I personally have my doubts but time will tell on that one. In an ideal world, every club would have the same financial clout OR, willing to invest more of their personal wealth to compete but unfortunately that’s just not reality. As I said before, there will always be the have’s and have not’s and that’s not restricted to Speedway, it’s all sports. The Championship is no different. Would you bet against next years play off final being contested by Poole and Glasgow again? I wouldn’t. You can bring in points limits and different rules to try and make things as equal as possible, but there will always be in demand riders on bargain averages that will always be snapped up by those with better resources who will stay one step ahead of the competition. With all due respect to them, the likes of Scunthorpe under Godfrey who builds his teams to a tight budget, are just there to make up the numbers. It’s just the way it is I’m afraid. ALL the heatleaders have now been “freed up” Bagpuss. Every top heatleader that rode here this year, and want to ride here next year, are now available to Keith Chapman and anyone else who wants to sign them. If finance isn’t an issue as you and StarBoy have said, then Lynn don’t have any excuse not to sign one of them do they? Outbid the top three and you’ll bag one of them. We’re going around in circles here. It’s not so much “freeing” up riders for others, it’s a question of if those other clubs can afford them and/or are willing to pay for them. If they can, then fair enough I’m not against bringing in rules to help spread the top riders around. My concern is that they bring in a rule that prevents the clubs that CAN afford to sign them, from doing so, and those riders are then lost to British speedway because they’re not happy with the lower terms offered by others.

As has been said before he didn't have too many fixture clashes when he signed. He missed some additional meetings because of being called up to ride at U21 level, both his polish team and Glasgow having to race on days that weren't in the original fixture list and injury. If the league set up is the same next year, the fixtures could be arranged to minimise clashes e.g race Poole and Oxford on Wednesdays during the Danish break. He is a brilliant talent and the type of rider that puts bums on seats. I'm sure all Glasgow fans would want him back.

Excellent post mate that's what happened while it was gate and go at Poole and unless Glasgow riders have been in a cupboard they should have set their bikes up for that it's no secret is it

Needs to be 1 GP per country and get out to some new audiences, Spain, France, Holland? Australia!

No they have quite a strong balance sheet with a good amount of cash in the bank. They do however appear bankrupt of ideas on how to successfully grow the sport.

You he will change anything, he will put ideas forward and he will be laughed off sadly. You just hope he can bring in some sponsorship from contacts he has